Documents for "South African Political Geography":

• Alexander Bay town, Northern Cape, NW South Africa, where the Orange River enters the Atlantic Ocean; site of some of the world's richest alluvial diamond deposits.

• Beaufort West town (1991 pop. 31,726), Western Cape, S South Africa, in the Great Karroo. The town has some light industry and is the trade and distribution center for nearby farms where sheep, grain, and fruit are raised. It is also a resort. Beaufort West was founded in 1818 and in...

• Benoni town (1991 pop. 288,629), Gauteng, NE South Africa, on the Witwatersrand. It is the distribution center for a gold-mining district and is part of a large industrial complex known for its iron and steel plants. The chief manufacture is electrical equipment. Benoni was...

• Bethlehem town (1991 pop. 80,921), Free State, E central South Africa. It is situated in a farming and livestock area and has industries producing furniture and food products. Bethlehem was founded in 1860,...

• Bloemfontein city (1991 pop. 300,150), capital of the Free State and the judicial center of South Africa. It is a transportation hub and industrial center, containing railroad workshops, food-processing plants, and factories that produce furniture, plastics, and glassware. Bloemfontein was founded in...

• Boksburg city (1991 pop. 195,905), Gauteng, NE South Africa. It is an important coal-mining center. Some gold mining is still carried on. Manufactures include railroad equipment, electrical and metal...

• Bophuthatswana former black "homeland" and nominal republic, c.17,000 sq mi (44,000 sq km), N South Africa. Bophuthatswana comprised seven separate areas, one along the Botswana border, the remainder landlocked enclaves. The capital was...

• Brakpan city (1991 pop. 130,463), Gauteng, NE South Africa. It is a gold- and coal-mining center and has an ironworks. There is also a technical college in the city.

• Cape Colony see Cape Province.

• Cape Province former province, S South Africa. Under the South African constitution of 1994 it was divided into Eastern Cape, Western Cape, Northern Cape, and part of a fourth province, North West. The former...

• Cape Town or Capetown, city (1991 pop. 854,616), legislative capital of South Africa and capital of Western Cape, a port on the Atlantic Ocean. It was the capital of Cape Province before that province's subdivision in 1994. The city lies at the foot of Table Mt. (c.3,570 ft/1,090 m) and on the shore of Table Bay. Cape Town is a commercial and industrial center; oil refining,...

• Ciskei former black "homeland" and nominal republic, SE South Africa. Surrounded by the Cape Province (in the portion that is now Eastern Cape) of South Africa, it consisted of two parcels of land, the larger one bordering the...

• Durban city (1991 pop. 473,826), KwaZulu-Natal, E South Africa, on Natal Bay, an arm of the Indian Ocean. Durban is an industrial center, a major seaport, and a year-round resort. Industries include...

• East London city (1991 pop. 240,474), Eastern Cape, SE South Africa, on the Indian Ocean. The city grew around a British military post founded in 1847. Its harbor was developed from 1886, and today it is a...

• Free State formerly Orange Free State, province (1995 est. pop. 2,782,000), 49,866 sq mi (129,153 sq km), E central South Africa. It was renamed Free State shortly after the 1994 constitution went into effect. Bloemfontein is the capital and largest city; other important cities include Bethlehem and Kroonstad. The province is chiefly a plateau, rising gradually from c.4,000 ft (1,220 m) in the west to c.6,000 ft...

• Germiston city (1991 pop. 171,541), Gauteng, NE South Africa, on the Witwatersrand. The chief industries are gold mining and processing and the manufacture of liquid oxygen; other chemicals, machinery, textiles, and clothing are also produced. Germiston is South Africa's most...

• Good Hope, Cape of see Cape Province.

• Graaff-Reinet town (1991 pop. 34,440), Eastern Cape, S South Africa, on the Great Karroo. It is the center of an important farming and stock-raising area in which grapes, citrus fruits, flowers, wool, and mohair are produced. Founded in 1786, it served as the capital of a short-lived...

• Grahamstown city (1991 pop. 19,783), Eastern Cape, SE South Africa. It manufactures pottery and is the commercial center for a rich agricultural region. Founded in 1819 as a military post on Xhosa land, the...

• Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park c.13,500 sq mi (35,000 sq km; roughly the size of Belgium), the largest multinational park in S Africa and one of the largest parks in the world, in NE South Africa, SW Mozambique, and SE Zimbabwe;...

• Groote Schuur [Afrik.,=large barn], estate, Cape Town, Western Cape, SW South Africa. The main building of the estate, which is a good example of Dutch colonial architecture, was erected on the site of a large...

• Johannesburg city (1991 pop. 1,574,631), Gauteng, NE South Africa, on the southern slopes of the Witwatersrand at an altitude of 5,750 ft (1,753 m). Johannesburg is the largest city in South Africa, the center of its important gold-mining industry, its manufacturing and commercial center, and the hub of its...

• Kaffraria former name for a region in the Transkei , E South Africa. Founded in 1848 as the dependency of British Kaffraria, it was added to Cape Colony in 1865.

• Kimberley city (1991 pop. 167,060), Northern Cape, South Africa. Since the 19th cent. the city has been primarily a diamond-mining center, but underground mining, which had not been profitable for some...

• Klerksdorp town (1985 pop. 48,947), North West prov., NE South Africa, on the Schoonspruit River. The town, which has grain elevators, lumberyards, and food-processing and beverage-making industries, is the...

• Kroonstad city (1991 pop. 110,963), Free State (formerly Orange Free State), E central South Africa, on the Vals River. It is an agricultural and industrial center. There are grain elevators, and grain is...

• Kruger National Park game reserve, c.8,000 sq mi (20,720 sq km), Limpopo and Mpumalanga, NE South Africa. One of the world's largest wildlife sanctuaries, it has almost every species of game found in southern Africa...

• Krugersdorp city (1991 pop. 196,213), Gauteng, NE South Africa. The chief industrial city of the W Witwatersrand , Krugersdorp is the center for a region where gold, manganese, asbestos, lime, and uranium are mined. The city has uranium extraction plants. It also serves as the trade center for the surrounding...

• KwaZulu South Africa: see KwaZulu-Natal ; Zululand.

• KwaZulu-Natal province (1995 est. pop. 8,713,000), 33,578 sq mi (86,967 sq km), E South Africa, on the Indian Ocean. Formerly Natal province, in the constitution of 1994 it was renamed KwaZulu-Natal.

• Ladysmith town (1991 pop. 30,532), KwaZulu-Natal, E South Africa. The town has railroad yards and food-processing, textile, and tire factories. It is the distribution center for the surrounding agricultural...

• Mafeking see Mafikeng , South Africa.

• Mafikeng or Mafeking , town, North West prov., N central South Africa, near the border of Botswana. It is the twin town of the much larger Mmabatho, capital of North West prov., and is the market for the surrounding...

• Majuba Hill E KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, in the Drakensberg Range. On Feb. 27, 1881, a British force of 500 was routed there by Boer (Afrikaner) troops under the command of P. J. Joubert.

• Maritzburg see Pietermaritzburg.

• Natal former province, South Africa: see KwaZulu-Natal.

• Orange Free State former province, South Africa: see Free State.

• Paardeberg historic location, Free State , South Africa. In Feb., 1900, during the South African War , Gen. Piet Cronje and his Boer (Afrikaner) troops were forced to surrender to the British army at Paardeberg....

• Paarl town (1991 pop. 136,121), Western Cape, S South Africa, on the Berg River. It is the center of South Africa's wine industry and of a tobacco-growing region. Canned foods, jams, textiles, and...

• Pietermaritzburg city (1991 pop. 228,549), cocapital (with Ulundi ) of KwaZulu-Natal, E South Africa, in the foothills of the Drakensberg Range. The city is an administrative and industrial center. Its products include wattle bark extract, furniture, footwear,...

• Pietersburg or Polokwane , city (1991 pop. 54,700), Limpopo, NE South Africa. It is primarily the commercial center for the surrounding agricultural area. Iron and other minerals are mined nearby. Pietersburg was founded in...

• Polokwane South Africa: see Pietersburg.

• Port Elizabeth city (1991 pop. 670,653), Eastern Cape, SE South Africa, on Algoa Bay , an arm of the Indian Ocean. It is a tourist center and a major seaport that ships diamonds, wool, fruit, and other items. Automobile assembly is the chief industry; shoe manufacturing, metal and...

• Potchefstroom town (1991 pop. 185,552), North West prov. (in what was formerly a part of Transvaal ), NE South Africa. Located in a fertile farming region, Potchefstroom is the center of one of the world's richest gold-mining districts. Uranium is also mined. The town has malt factories and...

• Pretoria city (1991 pop. 667,700), Gauteng, administrative capital of South Africa and formerly capital of Transvaal. Pretoria is now part of the Tshwane metropolitan municipality, and in 2005 the metropolitan council voted to rename Pretoria Tshwane, an action not yet approved by the central goverment. Although...

• Queenstown Republic of Ireland: see Cóbh.

• Rand, the see Witwatersrand.

• Roodepoort city (1991 pop. 219,149), Gauteng, NE South Africa; founded in 1887. It is a gold-mining center and a resort.

• Simonstown town (1991 pop. 58,323), Western Cape, SW South Africa, on False Bay, an arm of the Atlantic Ocean. It is a seaside resort and a station of the South African navy; industry centers around ship...

• South Africa Afrikaans Suid-Afrika, officially Republic of South Africa, republic (2005 est. pop. 44,344,000), 471,442 sq mi (1,221,037 sq km), S Africa. It borders on the Atlantic Ocean in the west, on Namibia in the northwest, on...

• Soweto [acronym for south-west townships], city (1991 pop. 596,632), located 10 mi (16 km) SW of Johannesburg , South Africa. Soweto grew as black workers came to the industrialized area after World War I; the name for the city was collective term for what was originally a group of segregated townships...

• Springs city (1991 pop. 157,702), Gauteng, NE South Africa. It is an industrial center of the Witwatersrand , a gold- and uranium-mining region. Manufacturing has replaced mining in economic importance and includes processed metals, chemicals, paper, and foodstuffs. Springs began to develop after the...

• Stellenbosch city (1991 pop. 73,839), Western Cape, SW South Africa, in the Eerste River valley. It is a wine-making and fruit-growing center. Other industries include sawmilling and the manufacture of bricks...

• Transkei former black "homeland" and nominal republic, E South Africa. Transkei was bounded by the Great Kei River on the south, by the Indian Ocean on the east, by Natal on the north, and by Lesotho on the northwest. The capital...

• Transvaal former province, NE South Africa. With the new constitution of 1994, it was divided into Eastern Transvaal (now Mpumalanga), Northern Transvaal (now Limpopo), Pretoria-Witwatersrand-Veereeniging...

• Tshwane South Africa: see Pretoria.

• Uitenhage town (1991 pop. 182,551), Eastern Cape, S South Africa, on the Zwartkops River. It is an industrial center, with large railroad workshops, wool washeries, textile mills, and motor vehicle assembly...

• Ulundi [Zulu,=the high place], town (1991 pop. 11,102), cocapital (with the city of Pietermaritzburg ) of KwaZulu-Natal prov., SE South Africa. Situated on a hill overlooking the White Mfolozi River, the town possesses a modern administrative complex that is among the largest in the country. It is...

• Union of South Africa see South Africa.

• Vereeniging [Afrik.,=union], city (1991 pop. 345,000), Gauteng, NE South Africa on the Vaal River. An industrial center, its chief products are iron, steel, pipes, bricks and tiles, and processed lime and...

• Witwatersrand [Afrik.,=white water ridge] or the Rand, region, Gauteng (formerly a part of Transvaal ), South Africa. The area, which forms the watershed between the Vaal and Olifants rivers, is c.25 mi (40 km) wide and extends more than 60 mi (100 km) from west to east in a series of parallel...

• Worcester town (1991 pop. 117,159), Western Cape, SW South Africa. It produces wine and liquor and processes the fruits and vegetables of the surrounding farm region. There are also textile and metal...

• Zululand historic region and home of the Zulus, c.10,000 sq mi (25,900 sq km), NE KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Zululand is bordered by the Indian Ocean on the east, by Mozambique on the north, and by...